Beach Hole Collapses, Friends Frantically Try To Rescue California Man From Sand Tunnel To No Avail

A beach hole collapsed around a young man named Adam Pye who became trapped in the cloying sand. While friends and bystanders frantically tried to free him from the sand trap, the rescue effort unfortunately failed to reach him in time.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, some people have been passing around the idea that scientists are claiming sunscreen causes cancer. Oh, and in at least one case drinking sunscreen can be a good idea.

The incident where the beach hole collapses took place this past Monday at around 5:30 PM. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Capt. Jonathan Cox says the accident occurred at Francis State Beach after the man dug a hole that was 10 feet deep about 10 to 15 feet away from the water line. Pye apparently dug the beach hole in the camping area of the beach and some reports say it was actually a sand tunnel, not just a hole.

According to Kevin Pye, Adam’s father, while the man was standing in the middle of the beach hole, it collapsed on him from all sides, engulfing him underneath the sand:

“The girls came out of their tunnel, his tunnel caved in and they turned around and said, where’s Adam, where’s Adam?”

When the beach hole collapsed about 30 people rushed to his aid and tried to dig him up using their hands, buckets, and any other tool they could grab nearby. Cox says the rescuers were to free the man’s head from the sand in about five minutes.

George Fry, one of those who tried to help, described the frantic scene:

“There were dozens, dozens of people from the beach, men, women and children pulling sand out of this hole. You’re just grabbing sand a little bit at a time.”

But when firefighters arrived at about the same time “they discovered he was unconscious.” While 30 firefighters helped with the continuing effort to dig up the man, paramedics managed to open up his airways so the man could breathe again.

All in all, it took rescuers about 35 to fully extricate Adam Pye from the beach hole collapse, but by then it was too late. Paramedics attempted to revive Pye but Cox says he died on the scene. His parents said Pye had taken the trip to the beach to rest after recently graduating from Cal State East Bay with a major in business communications.